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62d Congress I 
3d Session f 



SENATE 



f Document 

( No. 984 



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ISIDOR RAYNER 

( Late a vSenator from Maniand ) 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED IN THE 

SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OF THE UNITED STATES 

SIXTY-SECOND CONGRESS 
THIRD SESSION 



Proceedings in the Senate 
February 22, 1913 



Proceedings in the House 
February 2, 1913 



PREPAKEL) UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
THE JOINT COMMITTKF. ON PRINTING 




WASHINGTON 
1914 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page. 

Proceedings in the Senate 5 

Prayer by Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D 5, 9 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Smith, of Maryland 13 

Mr. Clapp, of Minnesota 18 

Mr. O'Gorman, of New York 21 

Mr. Swanson, of Virginia 23 

Mr. Jackson, of Maryland 26 

Proceedings in the House 33 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Gouden, D. D 34 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Talbott, of Maryland 37 

Mr. Covington, of Maryland 40 

Mr. Linthicum, of Maryland 45 

Mr. Lewis, of Maryland 55 

Mr. Konig, of Maryland 57 

Funeral services 61 

Funeral address by Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D 52 



[3] 




HON. ISIDOR RA/NER 



DEATH OF HON. ISIDOR RAYNER 



Proceedings in the Senate 

Monday, December 2, 1912. 

The first Monday in December being the day prescribed 
by the Constitution of the United States for the annual 
meeting of Congress, the third session of the Sixty-second 
Congress commenced on this day. 

The Senate assembled in its Chamber at the Capitol. 

Augustus O. Bacon, a Senator from the State of Georgia, 
took the chair as President pro tempore under the order 
of the Senate of August 17, 1912. 

The President pro tempore called the Senate to order 
at 12 o'clock noon. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D., offered 
the following prayer : 

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in whose presence 
we now stand, we are come together in Thy name and to 
do Thy will. At the opening of this session of Congress 
we invoke Thy blessing. Without Thee we can do noth- 
ing. Until Thou dost bless us, our highest wisdom is but 
folly and our utmost strength but utter weakness. Be- 
stow upon us, therefore, we humbly pray Thee, wisdom 
and strength from above, that so we may glorify Thee, 
accomplishing that which Thou givest us to do. 

We come before Thee, our Father, with a deepened 
sense of our dependence upon Thee. Thou hast made us 
to know how frail we are. Thou hast showed us that the 
way of man is not in himself alone, and that it is not in 
us who walk to direct our steps. Thou hast called from 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 



his earthly labors Thy servant, the Vice President of our 
Nation. While we thought it was still day Thou didst 
cause the sun of his life to go down, bringing the night, 
when no man can work. We murmur not nor repine, 
our Father, knowing that alike the day and the night are 
Thine. Thou hast taken from our side fellow laborers 
and companions, leaving in this Senate empty seats and 
in our hearts loneliness and sorrow. We can not forget 
them, our Father, though in the flesh we behold their 
faces no more. Thou hast removed from his post of duty 
an officer of this body and hast made us to know that in 
the midst of life we are in death. Comfort our hearts, we 
beseech Thee, for all our sorrows, and keep us evermore 
in Thy love; and though Thou feed us with the bread of 
adversity and give us to drink of the water of affliction, 
yet take not from us Thy holy spirit. 

We pray Thee to bless the President of the United 
States. Uphold him by Thy power, watch over him by 
Thy providence, guide liim by Thy wisdom, and strengthen 
him with Thy heavenly grace. Bless him who shall pre- 
side over this Senate, bestowing upon him all things as 
shall seem good unto Thee. For all who are in authority 
we pray that they may serve Thee with singleness of pur- 
pose, for the good of this people and for Thy glory. 

So, our Father, may this session of Congress, begun in 
Thy name, be continued in Thy fear and ended in Thine 
honor. Grant us so to labor that by our deliberations we 
may hasten the time when Thy kingdom shall come and 
Thy will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

In the name which is above every name, hear our 
prayer. Amen. 

Mr. Smith of Maryland. Mr. President, it is my melan- 
choly duty to announce to my colleagues in the Senate 
that since our last adjournment death has claimed our 



[6] 



Proceedings in the Senate 



loved associate, Isidor Rayner. His death occurred at 
his home in Washington on the 25th of last November. 
His end followed an acute illness lasting several weeks. 
Watching with him during the period of progressing 
physical weakness and intense suffering were those he 
loved best — his wife, his son, and his grandchildren. 

He was in a large sense a martyr to his sympathies, his 
conscience, and his talents. The ambition to do his full- 
est duty as a Member of this body spurred him to under- 
take tasks far beyond his physical capacity to stand, for 
his mental energy and power always outran his physical 
capacity. A quick, sensitive, and all-compelling sym- 
pathy for all who suffer, for all who bear burdens, how- 
ever imposed, pained and wore upon him to his very soul, 
and deeper than I ever knew in any other case. He 
finally succumbed under the rack and strain. His tensely 
nervous temperament could not withstand the weight of 
others' woes added to his habit of overwork, accentuated 
toward the latter part of his life by obligations assumed 
at great risk, as he knew, to himself, and assumed in 
spite of the warnings and entreaties of his intimate 
friends, 

I shall make no effort to-day to speak of Senator 
Rayner's character or life nor of the qualities of mind and 
heart which elevated him to so many places of trust and 
fixed him in so many places of affectionate esteem. I 
shall only make the bare announcement of his decease. 

I shall in due season ask the Senate to devote some 
future day to ceremonies befitting his memory. Then 
when time has somewhat cleared our finite sight we may 
review his life and character, not altogether in the dark- 
ness of our own present sense of personal calamity in his 
loss, but rather in the light of his everlasting gain. 

Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I send to the 
desk, and ask for their adoption. 

[7] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 



The President pro tempore. The Secretary will read 
the resolutions presented by the Senator from Maryland. 

The resolutions (S. Res. 392) were read, considered by 
unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as fol- 
lows: 

Besolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the 
announcement of the death of Hon. Isidor Rayner, late a Senator 
from the State of Maryland. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to 
the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the 
family of the deceased. 

Mr. CuLLOM. Mr. President, I desire as a further mark 
of respect to offer the following resolution, and I ask for 
its present consideration. 

The resolution (S. Res. 393) was read, considered by 
unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as 
follows : 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the late Vice President James Schoolcraft Sherman and the late 
Senators Weldon Brinton Heyburn and Isidor Rayner, whose 
deaths have just been announced, the Senate do now adjourn. 

Thereupon the Senate (at 12 o'clock and 22 minutes 
p. m.) adjourned until to-morrow, Tuesday, December 3, 
1912, at 11 o'clock a. m. 

Thursday, December 5, 1912. 
A message from the House of Representatives, by J. C. 
South, its Chief Clerk, transmitted to the Senate resolu- 
tions of the House on the death of Hon. Isidor Rayner, 
late a Senator from the State of Maryland. 

Thursday, January 23, 1913. 
Mr. Smith of Maryland. I desire to give notice that on 
Saturday, Februarj' 22, 1913, I will ask that the business 

[8] 



Proceedings in the Senate 



of the Senate may be suspended in order that fitting trib- 
ute may be paid to the memory of my late colleague, 
Hon. IsiDOR Rayner. 

The President pro tempore. In the absence of objection, 
that order will be made. 

Saturday, February 22, 1913. 
The Senate met at 11 o'clock a. m. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D., offered 
the following prayer: 

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for 
the Providence which brings us to this day of holy and 
patriotic memory. In the light of the great example of 
him whom Thou wast pleased to make the Father of our 
Country, we here, with grateful and adoring hearts, con- 
secrate ourselves anew to the service of this Thy people. 
Receive our offering, we pray Thee, and grant that by 
Thy grace this may be that happy Nation whose God is 
the Lord. 

O God, who dost commit unto us the swift and solemn 
charge of life, we thank Thee for the life, the character, 
and the public service of him whom our lips shall this 
day name. We can not forget him who labored by our 
side, who shared our counsels, and who broke with us 
the bread of life. We honor ourselves, our Father, in 
honoring him who honored Thee. Despite our loneliness, 
we are the richer because such have lived. Though his 
body is buried in peace, his name liveth, and his memory 
is henceforth safely enshrined in our hearts. 

We pray Thee, our heavenly Father, to comfort those 
to whom this sorrow is most bitter and to whom this loss 
is most sore. Grant, we humbly pray Thee, that their 
hearts may evermore be in unbroken communion with 
his emancipated spirit. Quiet their restless and yearning 



[9] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 



hearts, until the day of the fuller life shall break and the 
shadows of our earthly sorrows shall flee away. 

In the name of Him who abolished death and brought 
life and immortality to light, hear Thou our prayer. 
Amen. 

The Secretary proceeded to read the Journal of yester- 
day's proceedings, when, on request of Mr. Smoot and by 
unanimous consent, the further reading was dispensed 
with and the Journal was approved. 

***** 

The President pro tempore (Mr. Gallinger). The hour 
of 2 o'clock having arrived, the pending bill will be laid 
aside and the memorial services set aside for this day will 
be proceeded with. 

The Chair lays before the Senate resolutions of the 
House of Representatives, which will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows : 

In the House of Representatives, 

February 2, 1913. 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended, that 
opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of Hon. 
IsiDOR Rayner, late a Senator from the State of Maryland, 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
of the deceased and in recognition of his distinguished public 
career the House, at the conclusion of these exercises, shall stand 
adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to the 
family of the deceased. 

Mr. Smith of Maryland. Mr. President, 1 offer the reso- 
lutions which I send to the desk. 

The President pro tempore. The resolutions submitted 
by the Senator from Maryland will be read. 



[10] 



Proceedings in the Senate 



The resolutions (S. Res. 472) were read, considered 
by unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as 
follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sorrow of the 
death of the Hon. Isidor Rayner, late a Senator from the State of 
Maryland. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the de- 
ceased the business of the Senate be now suspended, to enable his 
associates to pay proper tribute to his high character and dis- 
tinguished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these 
resolutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a 
copy thereof to the family of the deceased. 



[11] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr, Smith, of Maryland 

Mr. President: What we say within these walls to-day 
of our late colleague, Senator Isidor Rayner, can avail 
little to mold the judgment of mankind as to his life, less 
to comfort those who so sincerely mourn his loss. 

The achievements of his life were in the courts, in 
literature, in the halls of legislation. They are of record 
in the Maryland reports and in the journals of this body — 
monuments and memorials to his genius that all men 
may see. But perhaps after all they are most deeply 
engraved, if not as permanently perpetuated, in the mind 
and the memory of his friends and myriad admirers. 

Any man might be pardoned for a feeling of over- 
whelming pride to have stood where Rayner stood and to 
have done what Rayner did. But so far from minister- 
ing to his vanity, the rarest and most sought honors, 
which came to him as if by magic, did not elate him, and 
were in no sense necessary to his happiness. In fact 
added honors and increased experience seemed to fill 
him with vague feelings of unrest and yearnings for 
hitherto untraveled fields of usefulness and power. 

I do not wish to take up the time of the Senate in 
speaking of that which all men can learn of Senator 
Rayner, and of what many know of him from the printed 
page. Nor shall I rehearse his rarely equaled triumphs 
at the bar, on the stump, in the field of letters, and in 
legislative halls. Better men than I have done this better 
than I can do at the memorial exercises had in the Court 



[13] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

of Appeals of Maryland and in the House of Representa- 
tives within the past few weeks. 

I want to sound such personal notes and touch the 
human chords in his nature which are not of record in 
books, nor apparent to all. Unfitted as I am, I feel that 
as his oldest friend on this floor I should attempt that 
task. 

Few men, perhaps none 1 have known, had Senator 
Rayner's mental endowment and his natural gifts. Na- 
ture was prodigal in her generosity to him. So that it 
is not to be wondered that honors born of an intellectual 
supremacy were his from his boyhood. The wonder is 
they did not bring him more personal gratification and 
real satisfaction. It was almost pathetic to note that even 
in times of his greatest successes he always felt a minor 
touch of sadness and incompleteness in the present, and 
wistful hopes not unmixed with forebodings of the future. 

Fortunately for the country, he was relieved of the 
necessity of devoting his time to actual bread winning, 
and thus enabled to gratify his ambition and serve his 
country by turning the full tide of his talents into the 
channels of public life — always in elective positions. 

By reason of the exigencies of life occasions have arisen 
when I have fought with him, fought against him; been 
intimately associated with him in political and official 
relations for years, and again far from him in both. 
But during the thirty or more years I have known him 
I always cherished for him a personal understanding 
and esteem at no period affected by the varying gusts 
of political storms which several times swept us on 
divergent courses. 

No one could know Senator Rayner without being daz- 
zled by his talents. As a student at the University of 
Virginia, a member of the Maryland Legislature, State 
senator. Congressman, attorney general of his native 

[14] 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Maryland 

State, unpaid volunteer in the service of a misrepre- 
sented and oppressed gentleman and gallant warrior. 
Admiral Schley, he everywhere established a new and 
higher standard, alike the inspiration and despair of his 
fellows. 

His career was indeed meteoric — his nature a paradox. 

Incorruptibly honest, he was proof against all tempta- 
tions of avarice. His life was uniformly distinguished 
by the purest and most refined morality. Dissipation and 
vice, even of the mildest order, were unknown to him — 
unwelcome to him. Still he knew and appreciated the 
temptations of others, the unworthy motives of others; 
and, in short, knew all classes of the world as they are. 
But he sympathized with the weaknesses, which he in 
no way shared, of those who fall. 

With a voice that compelled attention and won the 
ear and heart and a power of logical argument which 
conquered doubt, a pen as easy and discriminating as 
Macaulay's, with wealth, power, admiration, applause, 
and position he was rarely at peace. 

Unduly sensitive to the small annoyances of life, he 
bore in tranquil serenity the pains of death. 

Shrinking, and in nervous dread of any sort of contest, 
none surpassed him in vigor of defense or bravery of 
attack when the fight began. 

He shrank from giving pain to anybody or anything. 
He was always on the side of mercy, always first to urge 
forgiveness and charity. 

So fine were his feelings, his sympathies so susceptible, 
and his heart so tender that he felt and bore the pains of 
others as if his own, especially when he could not afford 
relief. 

Yet withal none could be more drastic, more inexorable 
than he in attacking corruption or moral weakness in 



[15] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 



official life, and none more unsparing in denouncing 
cowardice. 

Twice he boldly bolted his party and repudiated his 
party's nominees. Yet within a few months his party 
tendered him the nomination as attorney general, a posi- 
tion of honor and trust entirely in line with his taste and 
which he filled with magnificent success. 

Despising organized politics, decrying political clubs 
and organizations as pernicious, he received loyal and 
cordial support from his party and was elected to ever}' 
political position, but one, he was willing to accept. 

He single-handed swayed men and molded public 
opinion as he willed. The faith of the masses of the 
people in him, their admiration for him, their pride that 
his State was their State, were never surpassed. He 
always held the hearts of the people for his own. He 
could always get their ear. 

Thus often defying the conventional methods, by his 
originality and personal power he won success — phe- 
nomenal success, in the general acceptation, as meas- 
ured by achievements which are of record; but success 
of a quality far more vividly and accurately indicated by 
the affection and admiration of the people he served, 
whose ills he felt, whose battles he fought so long. 

Always a prey to nervousness, accompanied by an in- 
veterate insomnia, for years in physical pain, his insatiate 
energy drove him on. Rest he sought, and rest for his 
tired, pain-stricken body, or for his luminous mind, he 
never found above the sod. 

He was fired with ambition, driven by a force which 
made no allowance for the limitations of physical en- 
durance. His great mental powers, always alert, always 
accurate, responded to every call and every demand long 
after the time when it was evident that his physical 
frame was about to collapse and crumble under the rack 

[16] 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Maryland 

and strain. But on he went until his last public appear- 
ance in joint debate in the last campaign at Baltimore. 
The cord snapped. He died in the hour of the triumph 
of principles he had long looked for, had long advocated, 
and which will long endure. 

Small wonder the people of his State loved him, for 
he loved the people, and ended his life work in the battle 
for principles he conceived to be for the highest welfare 
of his country. He was indeed a statesman and a patriot. 

But his life was not by any means all tinged with dis- 
appointment or crowded with care. 

The sweetness and solace of his life were found in his 
family. He was the truest and most adoring husband and 
the kindest, most indulgent father. His pride and interest 
in his grandchildren were beautiful. His home was the 
refuge from his cares. The society of his devoted wife, 
the association with his only son and grandchildren, pro- 
vided the balm which soothed his troubled spirit, sweet- 
ened his work, and drove away his cares. There he found 
his only happiness, which was free from all residuum or 
reaction of bitterness or disappointment. 

He lived and died with his family about him. I am 
glad to think that their assiduous care and tender love 
were near to comfort him under the increasing weight 
of pain and weakness, which after weeks of suffering 
finally crushed him. 

And while he has passed away, leaving in their lives a 
void none can fill, the same is true of the Nation and of 
this body. He has left no successor. No one in my State 
or in our Nation has arisen who can fill the place of 
IsiDOR Rayner. 



10279"— 14 2 [17] 



Address of Mr. Clapp, of Minnesota 

Mr. President: It is said that a man's character is what 
he is; his reputation is what others think of him. In 
my brief but earnest tribute to the memory of Senator 
Rayner I shall deal with his character rather than his 
reputation. 

The Senator from Maryland [Mr. Smith] has well said 
of Senator Rayner that he was a paradox. All great men 
are; and the greater the man the more apparent the an- 
tithesis of his nature seems to stand out irreconciled. Yet 
this is due to a natural law. The greater the man, the 
more earnest the man, the stronger the projection from 
one source of divergent forces. 

Senator Rayner, in his advocacy of what he believed 
was right, in his opposition to what he believed was 
wrong, was so strong, so earnest, that ofttimes it seemed 
to trench even upon bitterness, not alone against the thing 
to be assailed, but the person who stood for the thing he 
assailed. His assault upon the wTong was enriched with 
a wealth of invective, and yet not to reveal a wealth of ex- 
pression; but every line and every word was simply the 
outward expression of the thought and purpose within. 
Reaching almost the point of bitterness in his opposition 
to the things against which he stood, at the same time I 
never knew a man more ready, more quick, to respond 
to a sympathetic plea. This is accounted for by the fact 
that the shaft forged for combat and the throb for sym- 
pathy both came from one great, earnest nature, one 
great, earnest soul. 

Perhaps nowhere in Senator Rayner's life activities 
two thoughts stand out in antithesis more than in his re- 
lations to governmental problems. Senator Rayner was 

[18] 



Address of Mr. Clapp, of Minnesota 

in full accord, in deep sympathy, with everything that 
tends for the betterment of humanity. He was in full 
accord with that great movement that to-day not only agi- 
tates our own Republic, but seems world-wide in its ac- 
tivities. Yet, upon the surface, his sympathy for that 
cause seemed ever to find a limitation in a reverence that 
almost amounted to worship of whatever man may have 
uttered upon these questions, if that utterance came with 
the sanction of convention, legislature, or judicial decree. 
He inherited this. In fact, the Christian world, recog- 
nizing that in the dim mists of the past law first came in 
the commingling of the divine through the human in- 
strument, man, has ever given and to-day gives a sanctity 
to human expression when that human expression relates 
to a certain function of government and forms a part of 
that abstraction which we call law, forgetting that, aside 
from the divine expression, every expression of authority 
reflects the infirmities of human nature. It may be the 
limitations of the mentality which pronounces it; it may 
be the limitation of environment; but so long as it comes 
from a human source, it partakes of the weakness of 
human nature. 

Inheriting this as a part of Ms racial inheritance, his 
adherence to this thought was almost a worship. But, 
Mr. President, I am not certain but that it is well that we 
have great, strong characters like Senator Rayner, who 
hold reverence for the past, because every step of human 
progress is a reflection upon the past — a reflection either 
upon the wisdom of utterances or the supineness of hu- 
man nature in so long tolerating a condition from which 
man has ever been ready to make a sacrifice to escape. 
And perhaps it might come to pass that our eagerness to 
get away from the past would be prompted not only by 
a lack of reverence for the past, but perhaps would be 
somewhat hastened by a feeling akin to a lack of respect 



[19] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

for the past in the light of its mistakes, were it not that 
here and there stands a great, strong character like Isidor 
Rayner, holding man somewhat in reverence to the past. 

I believe, in this hour and day, we require here and 
there a great, strong character like his; because, whether 
you take his sympathy for humanity at one extreme, or 
his adherence, his devotion, to what he considered the 
law at the other, like those other two traits of his char- 
acter which I have described, they are forces reaching 
out in divergent directions from the same great source, 
the great soul of a great, earnest man. 

Mr, President, Isidor Rayner has passed beyond. We 
shall miss him. I believe those who differ with me polit- 
ically will feel that it is no trespass upon the courtesy or 
the solemnity of this hour when I say that the party the 
certainty of whose victory he lived only to see will miss 
him in its councils in the future. We will miss his asso- 
ciation here; but we have the reflection that a great life 
is an inspiration, the study of a great man's career is a 
daily sermon from which we may gain inspiration and 
strength. 



[20] 



Address of Mr. O'Gorman, of New York 

Mr. President: The Sixty-second Congress, which will 
close within a few days, has a mortality record perhaps 
unprecedented in the history of the Government. Of the 
Members who assembled in the Capitol two years ago to 
discharge their public duties, 6 Senators, 18 Representa- 
tives, and the Vice President of the United States have 
responded to the final summons which every mortal must 
obey; and "no man knoweth the day or the hour." Death 
is never so distressing, its chilly hand never so unwel- 
come, as when it withers one whose brilliancy and rare 
attainments set him above the ordinary level of mankind 
as a character to be emulated and admired. When na- 
ture blesses a man with unusual talents, when it invests 
him with nobility of mind and soul, his passing leaves a 
void difficult to bear, because so difficult to fill. 

The Senator to whose memory we pay tribute to-day 
was such a man. Nature was generous with him in her 
endowments, which he well repaid by more than 30 years 
of patriotic public service. As a member of the Mary- 
land Legislature, as attorney general of his State, as a 
Member of the National House of Representatives, and 
as a distinguished Member of the Senate of the United 
States, IsiDOR Rayner devoted his talents and high char- 
acter to the service of his country with an energy and 
enthusiasm that did honor to himself and to his native 
State. 

He was an orator worthy of the best traditions of this 
or any other Chamber. He was a student whose books 
brought him sound counsel and that wide information 
which made his judgment universally respected. He was 



[21] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

a statesman eagerly seeking the best interests of his coun- 
try and the maintenance of its honor. Scion of a race 
whose history has been one of persecution, his life has 
given to the world another proof that this is a land where 
merit knows neither race nor creed — a Nation where 
honest achievement will receive its just recognition. 

The late Senator from Maryland was able and brilliant; 
but he was more than that. Intellect without heart is 
cruel; brilliancy without human sympathy is vain; and 
our departed friend won his place in the affections of his 
colleagues and in the esteem of the country because the 
gentleness of his soul measured up to the strength and 
vigor of his mind. 

He served his country long and faithfully. He was a 
lawyer of great ability, an orator of rare power, a citizen 
of stainless life, a patriot of high purpose and lofty ideals. 
Ever earnest in his purpose to fulfill the obligations of 
life in his home, in society, and in the Nation, he typified 
in all things courtesy, courage, honor, and fidelity. 

Mr. President, Senator Rayner has passed forever from 
this Chamber; his career is closed; his public record is 
part of the history of the Nation; and now his sorrowing 
colleagues pay him a last farewell. The eloquence that 
charmed and stirred is silent. His words have mingled 
for the last time with the shadowy troop of immortal 
voices whose echoes have resounded through the Halls 
of the Capitol. 

We sympathize with his bereaved family, but no words 
of ours can assuage their grief. Yet in this solemn hour, 
devoted to a contemplation of his character and achieve- 
ment, it must be comforting to those who loved him in 
his lifetime to remember that though his distinguished 
career is closed he has left behind him the heritage of a 
name respected and honored throughout the Nation. 



[22] 



Address of Mr. Swanson, of Virginia 

Mr. President: I desire to pay a short tribute of warm 
regard and high esteem to our late distinguished col- 
league. Senator Rayner. I do not purpose to deliver a 
studied eulogium. The incidents of his successful life 
have already been portrayed and eloquently presented to 
the Senate. My purpose is to bear testimony to his worth 
as a man, his noble and patriotic instincts, and his pre- 
eminent abilities as orator, statesman, and lawyer. 

My acquaintance with Senator Rayner began in the 
extraordinary session of Congress called by President 
Cleveland in 1893, of which Congress both he and myself 
were Members. Early in that session he delivered a 
speech urging the repeal of the "purchasing clause" of 
the Sherman Act, which measure was then deeply disturb- 
ing the financial conditions of our country. His speech 
was eloquent, striking, and impressive. It made a pro- 
found impression upon me and upon the House of Rep- 
resentatives. In it was a rare combination of eloquence, 
knowledge of financial matters, and a clear, striking ex- 
position of the evils which would accrue from the con- 
tinuance of this policy. This speech exhibited the rare 
qualities possessed by Senator Rayner in presenting dry 
and usually uninteresting questions with a vigor and elo- 
quence to make them not only entertaining but convinc- 
ing. That address convinced me that he was one of the 
most finished and able speakers upon public questions 
then in public life. This conviction continued during the 
many years I was associated with him in the public serv- 
ice, during which time I had many opportunities of hear- 
ing him speak. 



[23] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

He was preeminent alike in finished oratory and in the 
array of argument and facts. He possessed a fine voice, a 
splendid presence, and a magnificent delivery, which, 
combined with his eloquence of expression, his beauty of 
illustration, and the deep solidity of his speeches, made 
him one of the best parliamentary speakers of this Nation. 
In addition to these brilliant qualities, he was endowed 
with a logical mind and a great solidity of learning and 
judgment. His success as an orator was largely due to 
his rare ability of combining beauty and strength. In 
the House of Representatives and in the Senate, upon 
all important matters, whether foreign affairs, the tariff, 
or constitutional questions, he discussed them with pre- 
eminent excellence, exhibiting a thorough knowledge and 
a most attractive brilliance. His speeches will fully repay 
study by those who desire to succeed in oratory or to have 
models upon which to construct speeches. 

He was, without question, one of the most learned and 
able lawyers of this body. His knowledge of constitu- 
tional law was deep, broad, and far-reaching in states- 
manship and conviction. Conflicts in intellectual debate 
were ever pleasing to him, and he rarely indulged in them 
without coming out successful. The more difficult and 
important the questions the more they possessed interest 
to him and the more strenuous Were his efforts to clear 
the mists surrounding them. 

Few have surpassed him in intellectual attainments. 
A perusal of the great debates of the House and Senate 
while he was a Member of these bodies will bear testi- 
mony to his great ability, eloquence, power and strength 
of mind, and breadth of information. These splendid 
qualities of mind were united with noble purposes of 
heart. All of his instincts were patriotic and sought the 
betterment of State and Nation. His record as a public 
servant was clean and most honorable. No stain ever 



[24] 



Address of Mr. Swanson, of Virginia 

followed his footsteps. No whispering of suspicion ever 
clouded his name or record. His ambitions and ideals 
were high and lofty. It is by the lives and achievements 
of such men that the halls of legislation are made pro- 
motive of the moral, educational, and material develop- 
ment of the people. 

His untimely death removed from this Chamber one of 
its most illustrious Members and one whose attainments 
pointed to a still greater life of usefulness. Well may 
we pause in the pressing activities of this body to pay 
tribute to one whose talents gave to this Senate distinc- 
tion and whose life was consecrated to the public service 
of Maryland and the United States. 



[25] 



Address of Mr. Jackson, of Maryland 

Mr. President: The death of Isidor Rayner marks the 
passing of another of those illustrious men who, just 
as their splendid powers were in the full glory of perfect 
maturity, have gone to join that distinguished company 
of departed Senators, whose names are come to be num- 
bered with those of Webster, of Calhoun, of Sumner, and 
of Hoar. It is not for me, his successor, to add new luster 
to the name of Isidor Rayner or to perpetuate his fame, 
for his work, his life, are their own enduring monuments 
for posterity; but a feeling of profound respect for his 
ability and of sincere admiration for the man himself 
prompts me to pay this my tribute to his memory. 

I know but little of his boyhood. If it be truly said 
that the " boy is the father of the man," then Isidor Ray- 
ner, the youth, must have been as conspicuous among his 
comrades as was Isidor Rayner, the man, among his asso- 
ciates — among whom he stood forth clothed in the 
strength of his own power. He was born on April 11, 
1850, 10 years before the outbreak of the War between 
the States. Prior to 1866 he had attended the public 
schools of Baltimore and the University of Maryland. 
In that year he entered the academic department of the 
University of Virginia, the famous old institution from 
whose picturesque lawn and ranges have come those 
other distinguished Marylanders — Edgar Allan Poe and 
the late Maj. Venable. It is possible that here, in the 
shadow of Monticello, in the university that Jefferson 
himself had founded, first grew the passionate admira- 
tion for Jeffcrsonian democracy that so distinguished his 
after life. Four years were spent at Charlottesville, dur- 
ing the last of which he studied in the law department. 

[26] 



Address of Mr. Jackson, of Maryland 

Already his oratorical powers had begun to develop, for 
at 18 he was the anniversary speaker of the Jefferson Lit- 
erary Society. His subject was religious liberty. We 
know that this principle, the right to worship according 
to the dictates of one's conscience, free from the re- 
straint of man-made laws, continued to be cherished by 
him as long as he lived, as, in fact, it has been by that re- 
markable race from which he sprang, whose sufferings 
from Christian intolerance have been no less noteworthy 
than the steadfastness of their adherence to the faith of 
Abraham. 

In 1871 he was admitted to the bar. He became a bril- 
liant lawyer. It was natural that his forensic ability 
should lead him to prefer the active trial table — the 
duties of the pleader — to the inore somber office practice. 
He never hesitated to champion the cause of the weak or 
oppressed. His deeply sympathetic and emotional na- 
ture, those distinguishing characteristics of the race that 
has given the world the Bible and two great religions, 
was stirred most deeply when, as the champion of the 
downtrodden, he sought justice from the powerful. The 
late Admiral Schley selected him from a vast array of 
legal talent to insist that the history of the naval Battle 
of Santiago should go down to posterity correctly re- 
corded. His work in that celebrated case did much to 
spread his well-merited fame throughout the Union. He 
displayed in that memorable inquirj^ after truth a re- 
markable knowledge of naval warfare, of the technique 
of sea fights, that could have been acquired only by the 
most earnest preparation. And if I were asked to name 
the distinguishing characteristic of Isidor Rayner I should 
say without hesitation that it was earnestness, enthusi- 
astic earnestness, the earnestness that is in fact the only 
true genius. His efforts in behalf of his fellow Mary- 
lander had at least this most satisfactory result — that the 



[27] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 



people of the United States, the great people, were en- 
abled to judge for themselves who should rightly wear 
the laurels of the victory over Cervera. 

Mr. Rayner's political career began with his election to 
the Maryland General Assembly in 1878. During this ses- 
sion he served as acting chairman of the judiciary com- 
mittee. Even then his work indicated latent abilities that 
were ultimately to place him triumphant upon the lofty 
pinnacle of political fame. He was then, as throughout 
his life, primarily a friend of the people — the mighty 
average people who are struggling, sometimes foolishly, 
often misguidedly, but always sincerely and irresistibly, 
toward a larger measure of political happiness. He felt 
their sorrows; he sympathized with their endeavors; he 
saw through the sometimes absurd manifestations down 
to their sincere desire for better things. He espoused 
their cause with that same enthusiastic earnestness which 
I believe to have been his dominant trait. 

In 1885 he was elected to the Maryland State senate and 
three years later to the House of Representatives of the 
United States. He was three times elected to that body, 
but I will not dwell at length upon his work in Congress. 
He was most active in his efforts to repeal the Sherman 
silver-purchase law in the panic-stricken days of the early 
nineties. His course was a fitting preparation for the sen- 
atorial career which marks the maturity of his ability, the 
splendid realization of the promise of early years. The 
climax of his career came with his election to this body in 
1904. That was a memorable fight, a triangular battle 
for control, a struggle in which the tide slowly turned to- 
ward Mr. Rayner, because public opinion, the resultant 
of the wishes of all the people, the force slow to move but 
irresistible when once aroused, demanded it. Gentlemen 
are familiar with his splendid services in this body. His 
consummate ability brought new luster to the State whose 

[28] 



Address of Mr. Jackson, of Maryland 



representative he was, new prestige to the Senate of the 
United States. 

When he entered this body Mr. Rayner abandoned his 
law practice and devoted himself with singleness of pur- 
pose to the discharge of his public duties. And this is 
but an indication of his high conception of the office he 
honored by filling. He believed that it was worthy of the 
devotion of all his time and energy, and he plunged into 
his new duties with his own peculiar enthusiastic ear- 
nestness. 

Senator Rayner achieved distinction as a constitutional 
lawyer. I use the term to mean that he was a close stu- 
dent of the Constitution; that he applied his trained legal 
intellect to the mastery of its provisions; that he tested his 
own conception of its provisions by keeping in close touch 
with the interpretations of the courts; that his studies 
were based upon an abiding faith and belief in the Consti- 
tution as an efficient guaranty of the rights and liberties 
of the governed. In the early days of the Nation he would 
probably have been called a strict constructionist. But 
nevertheless his views were tinged with the notion some- 
times called modern or progressive, but really as old as 
the Federalist Party — that it is necessary to give the grant 
of powers to the Federal Government a more liberal in- 
terpretation than a literal construction would make nec- 
essary in order to accomplish for the people reforms 
obviously beyond the powers of the individual States. 
And thus he sympathized with the modern democracy 
that advocates an extension of the Federal power to the 
enactment of the so-called progressive measures of re- 
form. While Jefferson and his party would secure lib- 
erty to the people by insisting that the powers of the Fed- 
eral Government be not increased, the modern democracy 
would secure liberty by expanding the Federal power in 
order that there may be an effective agent to protect the 

[29] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

people against themselves or certain of their number. 
And there is this difference in the result: For while the 
Jeffersonian idea looks to individual liberty, the modern 
democracy tends to a restriction of individual liberty and 
a relegation of individuals into certain definite and fixed 
classes. 

That IsiDOR Rayner was one of the great modern ora- 
tors no one will deny. But he regarded his oratory as 
merely a means to an end, a fine tool at his command 
by which he might accomplish the ends dearest to his 
heart. As Plutarch says, " It is an ignoble thing for any 
man to admire and relish the glory of his own eloquence." 
Senator Rayner combined somewhat the painstaking, stu- 
diously prepared stjde of Demosthenes with that more 
sparkling and satirical manner of Cicero. He was pos- 
sessed of great natural ability, and this native gift he had 
cultivated by careful effort to the finished perfection we 
remember. There is a vast difference between mere pub- 
lic speaking and oratory. Anyone with a fair degree of 
intelligence may become a public speaker, but an orator 
is like a poet. He is an artist. He must have imagina- 
tion. He must have intensive earnestness to make his 
audience see and feel his own visions. These qualities 
the late Senator had in a high degree. He was possessed 
of the passionate earnestness of David, of the same racial 
qualities that matured so splendidly in Disraeli and 
Judah P. Benjamin. His masterful intellect was able to 
polish, to direct, to drive home the thoughts that could 
have arisen only in the mind of a true orator. 

It is perhaps too early to estimate the exact place that 
Senator Rayner will occupy in the lists of American 
statesmen. I believe his position will be high. He had 
the misfortune to belong to the minority party during the 
period of his greatest powers, and so there was not the 
opportunity for constructive statesmanship; but as a 



[30] 



Address of Mr, Jackson, of Maryland 

critic of dangerous tendencies, as a wise forecaster, as a 
balance wheel to constructive leaders, he certainly should 
go down to posterity as one of the typical statesmen 
whose efforts have so enriched and strengthened the in- 
stitutions of this great Nation. I know of no single serv- 
ice he performed wdth more credit and which will result 
in more lasting good than his insisting that the President 
should not disregard the limitations of the Constitution; 
that he should not set in motion a dangerous tendency 
in order to accomplish a present and immediate advan- 
tage. He insisted that in government the means are quite 
as important as the end, for the means of to-day become 
the precedents of to-morrow. 

But the Rayner I admire is not so much Rayner the 
constitutional lawyer, Rayner the orator, or Rayner the 
statesman, as Rayner the man, the great kindly gen- 
tleman. I love to think of him in his family, in his daily 
contact with his fellow workers. I love to wonder at the 
perfection of the human qualities he possessed in such 
attractive form. 

He was a man, take him for all in all. 
We shall not look upon his like again. 



[31J 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

Monday, December 2, 1912. 
A message from the Senate, by Mr. Crockett, one of its 
clerks, announced that the Senate had heard with pro- 
found sorrow the announcement of the death of Hon. 
IsiDOR Rayner, late a Senator from the State of Maryland. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to 
the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the 
family of the deceased. 

Mr. Cannon. Mr. Speaker, I move you, sir, that out of 
regard for the memory of the late Vice President, the Hon. 
James Schoolcraft Sherman, and the memory of the Mem- 
bers of this House and of the Senate who have departed 
this life since the adjournment of the last session of Con- 
gress this House do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; and accordingly (at 1 o'clock 
and 8 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned until to-mor- 
row, Tuesday, December 3, 1912, at 12 o'clock noon. 

Tuesday, December 17, 1912. 

The House met at 12 o'clock noon. 

Mr. Linthicum. Mr. Speaker, I offer the following reso- 
lution, which I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the resolution of- 
fered by the gentleman from Maryland. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Ordered, That Sunday, February 2, 1913, at 12 o'clock noon, be 
set apart for addresses on the life, character, and public services 
of Hon. IsiDOR Rayner, late a Senator from the State of Maryland. 

The order was agreed to. 

10279°— 14 ?. [33] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

Sunday, February 2, 1913. 

The House met at 12 o'clock noon and was called to 
order by Mr. Linthicum as Speaker pro tempore. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered 
the following prayer . 

Our God and our Father, whose presence pervades all 
space with rays divine, humbly, reverently we wait on 
Thy blessing. Open Thou our spiritual eyes, that we 
may see the glories round about us; our spiritual ears, 
that we may hear "the rustle of wings," the song of an- 
gels; our spiritual hearts, that we may feel the warm cur- 
rents of Thy love and be reassured in our longings, hopes, 
and aspirations. Time and space are nothing, life in 
Thee alone is life, so we believe, so we aspire, so we pray. 
Our coming together to-day in memory of a great man 
is the earnest of that immortality which springs sponta- 
neously from the soul and lifts us to the realms of high 
heaven, source of all good. His deeds speak more elo- 
quently than tongue or pen of his worth to State and 
Nation. It is well thus to commemorate them, that he 
may live again in those who shall come after him. 

Comfort those who knew and loved him, his bereaved 
wife and family, in the undying hope of the eternal and 
everlasting life in a risen and glorified Christ. For Thine 
is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. 
Amen. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will read the Jour- 
nal of the proceedings of yesterday. 

Mr. Talbott of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent to dispense with the reading of the Journal. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Mary- 
land asks unanimous consent to dispense with the reading 
of the Journal and that the Journal be approved. If 
there be no objection, it will be so ordered. 

There was no objection. 

[34] 



Proceedings in the House 



THE late senator RAYNER 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will report the 
order for to-day's session. 
The Clerk read as follows : 

On motion of Mr. Linthicum, by unanimous consent, 
Ordered, That Sunday, February 2, 1913, at 12 o'clock m,, be 
set apart for addresses upon the life, character, and public serv- 
ices of Hon. IsiDOR Rayner, late a Senator from the State of 
Maryland. 

Mr. Talbott of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I offer the fol- 
lowing resolutions. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

House resolution 807 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that 
opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of Hon. 
IsmoR RwNER, late a Senator from the State of Maryland. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
of the deceased and in recognition of his distinguished public 
career, the House at the conclusion of these exercises, shall 
stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. ' 

Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to the 
family of the deceased. 

The resolutions were agreed to. 



[35] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Talbott, of Maryland 

Mr. Speaker. My remarks upon this solemn occasion, 
when we meet to pay tribute to the late Senator from 
Maryland, Hon. Isidor Rayner, shall be very brief, but 
I feel that I should not permit the opportunity to pass 
without saying something about his life, character, and 
public services. 

In the death of Senator Rayner, to quote from the 
Evening Sun, of Baltimore — 

Maryland has lost a man of real statesmanlike stature, of clear 
public vision, and of true democratic ideas. 

Maryland not only loses this great man, but his death 
is a severe blow to the Democratic Party, now about to 
come into control of every branch of the National Gov- 
ernment. 

My acquaintance with Senator Rayner dates from 1876. 
I first met him in the presidential campaign of that year 
at an open-air inass meeting in Baltimore. He was then 
a young man, and made one of the best political speeches 
I ever heard. He attracted the attention of the people 
and the party leaders, and from that time on during the 
whole of his life he was always in demand as a popular 
and able orator. 

1 served with Mr. Rayner in the Fifty-third Congress, 
when Mr. Cleveland was President, and he was one of 
the Congressmen who stood loyally by the President in 
his fight for the redemption of the party pledges. 

He later was elected as attorney general of Maryland 
on the ticket with the now senior Senator from Maryland, 
Hon. John Walter Smith, who was the successful candi- 
date for governor in 1899. It is useless for me to say that 
he filled this high office with credit and distinction. It 

[37] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

was not long after this that he was called upon to repre- 
sent the hero of Santiago, Admiral Schley, in his defense 
before the court of inquiry. Mr, Rayner's splendid effort 
in this notable case will long be remembered as a mas- 
terly defense of a brave and heroic man by a great and 
accomplished lawyer. 

Mr. Rayner came to the Senate in 1905 to succeed the 
late Hon. Louis E. McComas. His campaign for the sena- 
torship was a most vigorous and nerve-racking one. 
There were no less than five candidates for the office, 
and it was only after many caucuses, party conferences, 
and the keenest political maneuvering that he was chosen. 

On account of his previous experience in Congress, his 
capacity to grasp public questions, his knowledge of pub- 
lic affairs, and his legal training he immediately took a 
most prominent part in all discussions and the workings 
of the legislative machinery in the Upper House. 

Mr. Rayner spent more than seven years in the Senate, 
and he took his place there as an orator, a debater, and a 
constitutional lawyer, and his career in that august body 
soon proved to his constituents that they had made no 
mistake in choosing him as their representative, for in 
all his actions and dealings as a public official he was 
always in entire sympathy with the people whom he was 
chosen to represent and was quick to respond to popular 
sentiment. 

Again quoting from the Evening Sun, of Baltimore : 

Above all, his instincts were true to the principles of popular 
government, and he intuitively turned to the side of right in 
nearly every great public contest. There was no shadow of turn- 
ing in his Democracy, and he upheld with unflinching firmness 
and enthusiasm the traditions and the faith of his party as 
handed down to him by its great political apostles. 

As a member of the Judiciary Committee and the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations he rendered most valuable 

[38] 



Address of Mr. Talbott, of Maryland 

service to his country and liis party. He made a special 
study of the Constitution and international affairs, and 
was looked upon by both Republicans and Democrats 
as one of the leading authorities and most active and 
widely informed Senators on these great questions. 

It was a great disappointment to Senator Rayner not 
to be able to take part in the late campaign. The na- 
tional committee and the Maryland Democratic State 
central committee had mapped out a most important 
work for him, and his inability to take up the work not 
only grieved him but considerably handicapped the 
party leaders, and was more keenly felt as the campaign 
progressed. 

His last public appearance was in the debate at Balti- 
more with former Congressman W. Bourke Gockran, in 
which he acquitted himself with great credit. After this, 
on advice of his physicians, he was obliged to cancel all 
his campaign engagements and was forced to take to his 
bed, and five or six weeks thereafter he passed into the 
life everlasting. 

Mr. Rayner was known as a home man. He belonged 
to but one club and was only rarely found there, prefer- 
ring to spend the few leisure hours which he did have in 
his family circle. He was a devoted husband and a lov- 
ing and indulgent father, and no matter what we say or 
do here to-day we can not fill the wide gap that has been 
made in his family circle by his untimely death. 

Peace and death's beauty to his heart to-day, 
"Who is not dead, but only gone away 
To sleep a little, as a child who goes 
When twilight folds the petal of the rose. 

Mr. Haugen took the chair as Speaker pro tempore. 



[39] 



Address of Mr. Covington, of Maryland 

Mr. Speaker: To-day we are gathered to pay the last 
tribute to a distinguished son of Maryland who at one 
time rendered signal service in this House. It is a glorious 
custom which has been established in the American Con- 
gress to hold a memorial session after the death of the 
public men who have served in either of its branches. 
There is no better method by which to pay tribute to the 
acts of public service and the standards of civic virtue 
attained by the Members of the American Congress than 
through these memorial services, which are preserved in 
permanent form as a part of the history of the statesman- 
ship of the country. 

IsiDOR Rayner, the man to whose memory we pay our 
final tribute on this day, was a remarkable personality. 
He had a long and varied public career, and he rendered 
distinguished service in public office. As quite a young 
man he attained fame at the Maryland bar. After his 
graduation at the University of Virginia he at once entered 
upon the practice of his profession in Baltimore. He 
combined in a rare degree the qualities of a clear-headed 
lawyer, a sound thinker upon economic and other public 
questions, and a powerful eloquence. It was only a short 
while after he began his law practice that he gathered 
unto himself a large clientele. His taste for public life, 
however, was so strong that he early began to give a large 
part of his time to the mastery of the science of govern- 
ment. He was elected to the House of Delegates of Mary- 
land while quite a young man. Later he served with 
distinction in the Senate of Maryland, and the reputation 
which he there made, both as convincing orator and 
alert legislator, caused him to be nominated as a candi- 

[40] 



Address of Mr. Covington, of Maryland 



date of the Democratic Party for the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

The greater part of his service in the House was at a 
propitious time. It was during the second administration 
of that great Democrat, Grover Cleveland, and I think 
that it was one of the many evidences of the rare power 
of judging the caliber of men shown by Mr. Cleveland 
that he soon detected the true democracy, the strong 
statesmanship, and the forensic eloquence of Representa- 
tive Rayner. During that administration of President 
Cleveland there was no man in the House of Representa- 
tives who was regarded with more esteem and whose 
judgment was more thoroughly trusted by the President 
than was that of Mr. Rayner. 

Like all great men of mental acuteness and restless 
habits of thought, his service in the House chafed upon 
him, and he retired temporarily to private life. When 
he retired, however, he by no means lost his hold upon 
the people of Maryland, nor did he lose his interest in 
public affairs, and a few years later we find the Democ- 
racy of Maryland nominating him for the office of attornej'^ 
general of that State. His four years of service in that 
office is the proof abundant of the many sided ability of 
the mian. The earlier public career which had brought 
him to prominence, and which had caused his name and 
fame to be fixed firmly in the hearts of the people of his 
State, was entirely of a political character. It was service 
which showed his comprehensive grasp of, and his ability 
successfully to deal with, great public questions. Many 
men of real capacity have found that the attention which 
they have given to public affairs while in public office 
has greatly lessened the acuteness of their knowledge of 
the dry, technical details of the law, but Senator Rayner's 
rare intellectual force was demonstrated by the remark- 
able legal labors which he performed during his four 
years as attorney general of Maryland. During that time 

[41] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

great legal questions confronted the State. He had, as 
the State's law officer, to determine problems that required 
the most profound knowledge of the details of law as a 
science, and he retired from that position with his repu- 
tation as a profound lawyer as thoroughly established 
among the people of Maryland as had his reputation 
already been established as a forceful public man. 

After his retirement from the office of attorney general 
there was a break of some years until his next public 
service. During that period, however, the Democracy of 
Maryland, recognizing his great strength with the people 
and his persuasive eloquence, invariably placed him at 
the head of its campaign speakers. Those years were 
devoted by him to a more thorough mastery, if possible, 
of constitutional law. His interest in public affairs had 
become so great and his study of the Constitution had so 
engrossed him that he gave less and less time to the de- 
tails of his law practice, and we find him a few years later 
elected by his party to the Senate of the United States. 

His subsequent career is so well known that it would 
almost seem fulsome even to recall it here. From the 
time that he took his seat in the Senate his mastery of 
the constitutional law of the country was recognized by 
his associates. The daily routine of legislation seemed to 
have little attraction for him. He was never what might 
be termed a "people's Senator." I think it is not harsh 
criticism to say that the characteristics of Senator Rayner 
were such that the performance of many of those trivial 
duties which constituents seem to feel are a part of the 
duties of a Representative or Senator in Congress was 
always somewhat irksome to him. But in the settlement 
of the great national problems growing out of the Spanish 
War and the acquisition of territory beyond the conti- 
nental United States, and in the readjustment which in- 
evitably had to take place as the result of the interstafe 



[42] 



Address of Mr. Covington, of Maryland 

character of practically all our great railroad and other 
industrial activities, Senator Rayner stood foremost 
among the great men in the Senate who expounded the 
Constitution as it was understood by its creators. He 
was an insistent defender of the checks and balances 
provided by the great men who had actually constructed 
our dual form of government, and when, during Mr. 
Roosevelt's term as President and afte., there had grown 
up the dangerous and limitless theoiy of expanding the 
Constitution by mere executive interpretation, there was 
no more forceful protagonist of the written Constitution 
and its proper limitations than Senator Rayner. His 
reputation as a debater on the floor of the Senate had 
even grown beyond the great reputation which he enjoyed 
as an orator in his earlier service in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and when it was announced that he would 
speak upon the constitutional aspects of some pending 
legislation of great moment he had a full audience of 
attentive Senators. 

In one respect particularly Senator Rayner was unique 
as a man who had such long and varied official life. He 
was in no sense a politician. I think that I do him no 
injustice to say that there never was a time when he had 
any practical connection with the management of a Demo- 
cratic campaign in Maryland. He made little attempt to 
secure appointments of friends to office, and he made 
absolutely no effort to build up for himself a political 
organization. In fact, I think it may truly be said that 
he was not in any way a factor in the various evolutions 
of politics that have taken place in the Democratic Party 
in Maryland. In the details of party legislation at the 
State capitol Senator Rayner was never one of the party 
leaders seeking to carry out a party program. He had 
really no taste for political management, and some of his 
friends used to say that he was the "worst politician" 



[43] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

they had ever known. But he was a great public figure; 
he was a sound and trained lawyer; he was a true thinker 
upon economic questions; he possessed a logic so incisive 
and merciless and an eloquence so persuasive and so mas- 
terful that he could to an almost unerring certainty carry 
his audience with him. It mattered not whether he was 
making a legal argument before a court or a party po- 
litical speech from the hustings, or a deliberate constitu- 
tional analysis of a great public question in the Senate, 
his speech was characterized by ornate diction, clearness 
of logic, and great force of eloquence. And the people 
of his State, with generosity and discrimination, retained 
him in public office for the public good. 

Now that he is gone, it may well be said that Maryland 
has lost one of her greatest men. Upon the pages of her 
histoiy in blazing letters beside the names of Luther 
Martin, William Pinkney, Taney, and others of a great 
and glorious past will stand in deserving boldness the 
name of Isidor Rayner. 



[44] 



Address of Mr. Linthicum, of Maryland 

Mr. Speaker: In offering this tribute to the memory of 
IsiDOR Rayner, late a Senator from the State of Maryland, 
there comes to me a flood of feelings peculiarly tender. 

The latter portion of Senator Rayner's public life was 
so interwoven with events with which I was intimately 
connected that I was in position to observe at close range 
this man of whom all Maryland was proud, and by reason 
of the nearness of my viewpoint able to analyze his mo- 
tives and understand the inspiration which led him step 
by step into the fuller confidence of his fellow men, finally 
bringing him that reward which inevitably follows the 
faithful and intelligent discharge of a great public trust. 

IsiDOR Rayner first saw the light of day in Baltimore, 
April 11, 1850, the son of William S. and Amelia R. Ray- 
ner. Completing his primary education in Rippert & 
Newell's Academy, in Catonsville, Baltimore County, Md., 
he entered the University of Virginia, supplementing an 
academic course by one in law at the same institution, 
where, as a member of the Jefferson Society of the univer- 
sity, at the age of 18 he was chosen anniversary orator, 
taking as the subject of his address "Religious liberty." 
So well did he acquit himself in his study of the law that 
the examining board of the university said to him : 

There is no occasion to ask you anything more. You have mas- 
tered your book so recently and well that you know more about 
these matters than we do. 

Returning from college, he entered the law offices of 
Brown & Brune, in Baltimore; in 1870 was admitted to 
the bar, and within a comparatively short space of time 
won an enviable standing in his chosen profession. 

[45] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

It is the general testimony of those lawyers acquainted 
with his legal ability that he was a deep and careful stu- 
dent, who within a comparatively brief period thoroughly 
mastered the principles of law. His power of analysis 
was keen, his penetration deep, his argument sound, and 
invariably supported by a multitude of citations that evi- 
denced the thoroughness with which he explored his sub- 
ject. Had he devoted himself exclusively to that jealous 
mistress whom so many have wooed in vain, doubtless he 
would now be remembered as one of the far-reaching 
beacons of the legal profession. As it was, with his at- 
tention distracted by the endless exactions of public office, 
he left a reputation which hundreds may well envy whose 
opportunities for legal preferment far exceeded those he 
enjoyed. 

Perhaps the greatest legal achievement of Senator Ray- 
ner was his defense of Admiral Schley, a gallant citizen 
of Maryland. It was not expected the defense would 
mainly devolve upon Senator Rayner, as Judge Jere M. 
"Wilson, of Washington, was senior counsel, but Judge 
Wilson died soon after the court convened, and thus upon 
the Senator was shifted the entire burden of the case. 
He did not shrink from the task, although he was not an 
admiralty lawyer. The rapidity with which he mastered 
the subject, studied trigonometry, sea law and lore, gulf- 
stream currents, and a multitude of other intricate de- 
tails was astounding to his friends, who knew him to be 
the possessor of a mind likened by one of his admirers 
to a — 

mighty machine and a delicate mechanism, capable of strokes of 
the greatest power and at the same time of the most delicate, ex- 
quisite, and subtle touches. 

When the time for argument arrived, Senator Rayner 
at first spoke in agreeable and measured tones, until, be- 

[46] 



Address of Mr. Linthicum, of Maryland 

coming warmed to his subject, he struck out with power- 
ful and convincing blows. Stripping his discussion of 
useless surplusage he dwelt upon the salient features of 
the case, and, scoring the tricky memories of witnesses, 
lashed with Herculean vigor the traducers of the man 
whose fame rang around the world and whose exclama- 
tion in the height of victory, " There's glory enough for 
all," will go down to future generations as one of the 
most magnanimous expressions of the age. 

As the oratorical flight of the great Marylander reached 
its climax, the court and the great assemblage, awed, as 
it were, by the brilliancy of the orator and his earnest- 
ness, seemed unwilling to utter a sound, hardly to 
breathe, for fear that some word which fell from his lips 
might be lost; when instantly that the tension was re- 
lieved, there broke forth an applause such as might be 
likened only to a pent-up storm suddenly released. The 
three admirals, acting as the court, hastened to congrat- 
ulate him; his friends and the assembled spectators 
poured praise upon him, and the brilliancy of his etfort 
was spread broadcast throughout the United States. 

Senator Rayner's advent into politics was almost simul- 
taneous with his entry upon the practice of his profes- 
sion. In 1878 he was elected to the Mai-yland Legisla- 
ture, where he served on the judiciary committee and was 
chairman of the Baltimore city delegation. In 1885 he 
was elected to the State senate, resigning when his term 
was about half finished to become the Democratic candi- 
date for Congi-ess. He was elected to the Fiftieth, Fifty- 
second, and Fifty-third Congresses and declined to 
receive a fourth term. Accepting the nomination for 
attorney general of Maryland, he was elected to that 
office, which he held from 1899 to 1903. 

I vividly recall the events connected with his first elec- 
tion to the United States Senate in 1904. The balloting 



[47] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

was carried on for about a month, and the tenacity with 
which his friends clung to him during that long interval, 
despite the repeated and vigorous endeavors to sway 
them, convinced me that there was something unusual in 
a personality which could inspire such unbroken and un- 
wavering devotion. I had the pleasure of working and 
voting for him, and felt it almost a personal triumph 
when victory was finally determined for him at the night 
caucus of the legislature preceding the final vote of that 
body the next day. 

Senator Rayner stood high in the distinguished body of 
which he was a member. Constitutional law was the fa- 
vorite field of his brilliant and versatile mind, and his 
masterful knowledge of the subject was expanded and 
enriched by contact on the floor of the Senate with con- 
temporary students of that document, notably Senators 
Spooner, Bailey, and Root. Only a few days before his 
death I read in the Saturday Evening Post one of those 
humorous and always interesting sketches by Samuel G. 
Blythe, in which he poked fun in his inimitable way at 
the fondness of the Maryland Senator for speaking on his 
favorite subject. But Mr. Blythe did not say — as he would 
have been justified in adding — that whenever Senator 
Rayner discussed the Federal Constitution the floor and 
galleries of the Senate always filled, and those who came 
invariably remained until his last word was spoken, ex- 
periencing every sensation within the art of the orator 
to inspire, marveling at his knowledge of the subject, fas- 
cinated with his lucidity, thrilled by his eloquence, and 
delighted with the deep intuition and clever reasoning 
which he displayed in debate. 

As an example of his pleasing and graceful style in ad- 
dress one should read his remarks on Roosevelt's " The 
Charter of Democracy." Probably no words of Senator 
Rayner ever were more eagerly received or widely ap- 



[48] 



Address of Mr. Linthicum, of Maryland 

plauded. With deferential respect for the individual 
whose program he was discussing, with charity toward 
the ignorance of law which distinguished that program, 
with the keenest irony, and the most subtle ridicule, he 
demonstrated by convincing example and clever analysis 
the folly of subjecting to popular recall the decisions of 
the judiciary. Two paragraphs of that address ever will 
be remembered. One is typical of the gentle irony and 
convulsing ridicule of which he was master and which 
he employed so effectively; the other breathes that in- 
tense love of his country's institutions which he under- 
stood so well. 

I quote them: 

I never retired at night that I did not expect some political 
earthquake in the morning, and I never arose in the morning that 
I did not look for some volcanic eruption at night. I think he is 
a most captivating and charming person. He can talk to you by 
the hour upon subjects that he does not know anything about at 
all with the same ease and facility that he can discuss those to 
which he has devoted the closest study. This is a gift of Provi- 
dence that none of his predecessors ever possessed. His disserta- 
tions upon the Constitution are a feast of reason and a flow of 
soul. The last conversation I had with him was in relation to the 
case of Col. Stewart, whom he had charged with certain tempera- 
mental infirmities and in whose behalf I had asked for a court 
of inquiry in the Senate. He informed me that being Commander 
in Chief of the Array and Navy of the United States he would not 
pay the slightest attention to any law that Congress passed, and 
that he had a perfect right, if he wanted to, to sentence Col. 
Stewart to death; that he did not intend to do it, but that he had 
the constitutional right to do so. 

***** 

Speaking for my country and not for my party, speaking for the 
autonomy and stability of our institutions, speaking for the Con- 
stitution, in all of its parts, if we are to pass in again under his 
yoke, with his outstretched arm under his latest utterance hanging 
over the seat of justice, the refuge and bulwark of our institutions, 
ready to strike it down with a wanton attack upon its integrity, 
and if this attack is to succeed and the era of the common law is 

10279°— 14 4 [49] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

to be revived, when its judges v^ere the abject serfs and slaves of 
the crown, then, in my judgment, it would have been better if the 
Constitution had never been framed and its authors had never 
attempted by an apportionment of constitutional functions almost 
perfect in their allotment to construct an indissoluble union of 
indestructible States. 

Those who knew not Senator Rayner in his home life 
knew not the Senator at his best. It was here he shone 
with all his tenderness, with all his love, and with that 
great devotion which he ever exhibited for his loved ones. 
His home life was ideal. He possessed those domestic 
virtues which stand for the integrity of the American 
home, the corner stone of American institutions. Within 
the sheltering privacy of the family circle were revealed 
those lovable traits of his sterling character that will ever 
endear his memory to his friends. None who enjoyed 
access to that circle could fail to approximate him at his 
true worth. Here the formalities of official position were 
forgotten and he was to be seen in the more treasured 
role of husband, father, companion, or host. 

His addresses were always in eager demand. The mere 
announcement that he would speak was sufficient to com- 
mand a large audience. They came to gather knowledge 
from his lips, to revel in the delight his oration afforded, 
to witness the fearless freedom and ease with which he 
handled his subject. Such an occasion was a mental 
feast none could fail to relish. 

His last public address was in the Lyric Theater, in 
Baltimore, where, on October 7, 1912, he met the Hon. W. 
Bourke Cockran in joint debate on the issues of the late 
campaign. His effort was a splendid one and added to 
his reputation, but even then the invisible and blighting 
hand of death was upon him. More than one of his ad- 
mirers left the hall that night shaking their heads, sol- 
emnly averring: "The Senator was not at his best this 
evening." 

[50] 



Address of Mr. Linthicum, of Maryland 

His address lacked just enough of that sparkling keen- 
ness which always distinguished his utterances to render 
it noticeable. The old-time fire was not in his words and 
actions. Those who observed his subdued vigor mentally 
and physically little dreamed that the tumult of the great 
national campaign then raging, in which with pain-racked 
body he was heroically doing his part, hardly would have 
subsided ere this favorite and beloved son of Maryland 
would have laid him down to his final sleep. 

Like Wolfe at Quebec, he lived long enough to see the 
banners of that army in which he was a valiant and 
trusted leader wreathed with the garlands of victory. The 
flush of success doubtless gave him new lease of life, 
though brief. It must have been a source of extreme 
pleasure to him in his last days that his countrymen, ac- 
cepting his appraisement of our Federal Constitution as 
correct, had by an overwhelming majority voted to pre- 
serve the integritj'^ of that document whose surpassing 
worth and splendidly balanced unity had been his chosen 
theme on more than one occasion. 

We hear the dip of the golden oars 

And catch a gleam of the snowy sail, 

And, lo, they have passed from our yearning heart; 

They cross the stream and are gone for aye. 

We may not sunder the veil apart 

That hides from our vision the gates of day; 

We only know that their bark no more 

May sail with us o'er life's stormy sea. 

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to print in the 
Record the remarks of Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce. Chaplain 
of the Senate and pastor of All Souls Unitarian Church 
of Washington, at the funeral of Senator Rayner. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Mary- 
land asks unanimous consent to extend his remarks by 
printing the address referred to. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

[51] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 



The address of Dr. Pierce is as follows : 

Once more, in the providence of God, we stand with bowed 
head and with hushed voices in the ineffable presence of death. 
Labor as we will to school and discipline ourselves, we can not 
so stultify ourselves as to be insensible to the majesty and 
augustness of this solemn hour. Repress our utterance as we 
may, the heart will find some secret and silent language to 
voice our awe and our faith. We are not so hardened and cal- 
loused that, as we journey on the highway of life, we can stay 
the tears as we behold — 

The milestones into headstones changed, 
' Neath every one a friend. 

And at such a time, when the occasion breathes its own 
thought, how little we can do! When, as of yore, the Spirit with 
its tongues of fire seems to descend upon us and to speak to each 
one in his own language, how cold and empty seems all that we 
can say! How well-nigh impertinent seem our words of praise! 
They seem to cut and wound hardly less than words of blame. 
And we would not have it otherwise. For we know the grief 
that is in our hearts, however our lips may fail in utterance. 

We speak sometimes of the silent tribute of tears. Are we not 
wiser than we suspect when we use such words? Why should 
we disguise the matter? Why should we attempt to conceal what 
our very presence here says so plainly? The simple truth is that 
our own deep sense of loss is the highest tribute we can pay to 
him who has gone from us. And who does not feel that this loss 
is personal? Not to everyone is it given thus to endear himself 
to all who knew him. And our own sense of personal loss is a 
true measure of his greatness. 

It is just as so often happens in our ordinary walk of life. We 
rejoice in the tree whose strength and beauty have been our ad- 
miration. Under its shade we found shelter. We were nour- 
ished by its fruits. But not until storm or tempest or the ruthless 
ax of the woodman has laid its prostrate form before us do we 
know its true proportions. We sometimes call death the great 
leveler; and so it is. But is not death also the great revealer? 
And now that the long and honorable career of public service and 
private life is brought to a close we realize, as never before, how 
blessed we have been and how great is the loss we suffer. 

[52] 



Funeral Address by Rev. Dr. Pierce 

Did I say public service and private life? Alas, these are 
sometimes separate and distinct things. But with the true man 
public service and private life grow from the same root of faith- 
ful devotion to duty. To such a man his public life is only an 
extension of his private character; it is a sharing with the larger 
family of the city, State, or Nation of those qualities which make 
home a sacred place. To such private life is not a screen where 
he would hide aught, but it is the smaller area into which are 
concentrated as by a sunglass the love and devotion which the 
larger public has shared and rejoiced in. No wonder, then, that 
when we are called to part with such a man home and city and 
State and Nation should each feel its own loss to be supreme. The 
larger family of the public mourns him as an honored and faith- 
ful servant of the common good; the family circle mourn for him 
as husband and father, and mourn as they only can who were 
privileged to share with him the sanctities of the home. 

And yet, as was said, here are not two lives, but one life. 
Public service and private life grew from the same divine root. 
Faithfulness to duty, dependence upon God, there is no fruitage 
of the Spirit that can not grow from this. Is not this the mean- 
ing of the poet's great words? — 

Yea, let all good things await 

Him who cares not to be great 

But as he saves or serves the State. 

Not once or twice in our fair country's story 

The path of duty was the way to glory, 

He, that ever following her commands. 

On with toil of heart and knees and hands. 

Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won 

His path upward, and prevail'd, 

Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scaled 

Are close upon the shining table-lands 

To which our God himself is moon and sun. 

Duty — heaven; by a beautiful necessity does not the one lead 
always to the other? When, like Jacob of old, we go faithfully 
on our way, is it not then that the angels of God meet us? And 
when in our pilgrimage we tarry at a certain place because the 
sun of life is set, do we not in the morning find this to- be none 
other than the house of God, this to be the gate of heaven? 
When we know that to live is Christ, then, also, we know that 

[53] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

to die is gain. And when we speak of our deep loss we are 
speaking of ourselves, not of him. If our sense of loss is the 
measure of his great worth, so also is it the measure of his gain. 
For it is true beyond peradventure that — 

Virtue treads paths that end not in the grave; 
No bar of endless night exiles the brave; 
And to the saner mind 
We rather seem the dead that stay behind. 

It is, then, for ourselves that we mourn, knowing our great 
loss, while he has ascended to his Father and to our Father, to 
his God and to our God. 

And, indeed, when one has come into the world richly endowed, 
when he has trained and disciplined his mind and has submitted 
all to the Father of our spirits, when a man has unsparingly 
given himself for others and has counted not his own life dear 
unto himself if only he may work the work of Him who sent him 
while it is called day, and when at the last his every thought 
has been not for self, but for others, why should not such a soul 
be able to say, with the apostle, " I have fought the good flight, I 
have flinished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there 
is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the 
righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day " ? And can we 
doubt that even now the liberated spirit of such a man has heard 
the approving words, " Well done, good and faithful servant; 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord " ? 



[54] 



Address of Mr. Lewis, of Maryland 

Mr. Speaker: In a few words I wish to state the view 
held by the people of Maryland of the Hon. Isidor Rayner, 
their late representative in the Senate. He was dis- 
tinctively, as has been said, a statesman. And by this, of 
course, they meant to designate an unswerving and un- 
usual spirit of loyalty to national interests as well as the 
interests of Marj^land. It is undeniable that the citizen 
has two sets of rights and interests: In one of his rela- 
tions he is purely an individual with corresponding claims 
direct upon his fellows; in another he is a member in a 
great State or national cooperative organization, where 
his rights and interests are collective in character and 
depend for the protection and enjoyment upon the degree 
of wisdom and loyalty exhibited by his representatives 
in official life. It is in the latter relation that Senator 
Rayner was best known to our people, and it is a great 
pleasure to testify to their high appreciation of his signal 
devotion and very great ability in serving them. 

There can be no question of his unyielding courage and 
fixity of purpose in this respect. The history of all parts 
of our country has been practically alike since the war, 
and all understand the terrific power wielded by those 
whose interests were individual and opposed in charac- 
ter to the collective interests, and how too many have 
yielded — even great political parties have succumbed — 
to individual interests which have had the power to set 
aside the collective interests in favor of their own. In 
such a situation the loyalty of Isidor Rayner was always 
invincible, for he was a statesman and not one of those 
who look to the actions of individuals rather than to 



[55] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 



the collective organization of society for their applause 
and protection. 

With this great spirit of loyalty to public interests there 
was combined a degree of talent in advocacy which 
amounted to genius itself. I shall not need to recite his 
life's stor}^ or the commanding incidents of his public 
career. They have been presented by others. But Mary- 
land was proud, almost immoderately proud, of his prow- 
ess in debate. She has had others in this House or the 
Senate of whose brilliancy she was proud; and the Na- 
tion was proud. He sustained, and splendidly sustained, 
her past glorj'^ and brought her added glory with the re- 
curring years. She knew how to judge and compare 
great men in the public service. For had she not reared 
at least her share and devoted them to the Nation's serv- 
ice? There was Pinkney; there was Henry Winter Davis; 
and then Isidor Rayner. 

He has gone with them, but his glory remains here with 
theirs. It is good and is as imperishable as the spirit of 
loyalty to the public. 



[56] 



Address of Mr. Konig, of Maryland 

Mr. Speaker : Isidor Rayner is dead. His work is done. 
Our action to-day can neither brighten nor tarnish his 
fame. But, sir, the beauty of the custom is its defense — 
to gather here in the workshop of a departed worker and 
here on the day of rest for those of us who are still in the 
struggle remind one another of the accomplishments of 
him who has gone to his eternal rest. 

Senator Rayner was a leader in the Senate; he was a 
leader in the House; he was a leader at the bar of Mary- 
land. Wherever he served, there he led; and he led be- 
cause he deserved to lead. Endowed with a genius for 
oratory, imbued with high ambition, gifted with strong 
intelligence and remarkable industry, and possessed of 
great wealth. Senator Rayner soon took his place among 
the men at the top. 

But, Mr. Speaker, I revere the memory of Isidor Rayner 
not because he got to the top, but I revere his memory 
because wherever he served he served with fidelity and 
honesty. Men deserve honor only as they are faithful 
and honest, albeit they may have fame and notoriety as 
they are successful. But for a vagary of fortune the un- 
known sailor at the mast might have been the famed ad- 
miral on the bridge, and the obscure soldier in the ranks 
might have been the heralded general at the front, the 
sweating toiler the proud captain of industry, and the 
humble voter the exalted magistrate. Fortune favors, 
and we are famous; fortune frowns, and we are obscure. 

Whether fortune enables us to become famous or keeps 
us obscure, we have it within us to say whether we shall 
be honest or dishonest, faithful or unfaithful; and accord- 



[57] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

ingly as we choose do we deserve the approval or the dis- 
approval of our fellow men. And, after all, what differ- 
ence does it make whether we are remembered with the 
world's great men or forgotten with its men unknown? 
It may well be that we all in playing our little parts are 
but deceiving ourselves with our seriousness; that we, 
with our heavy trifling, are the sport of some genius to us 
as inconceivable as it is unknown. 

But, taking ourselves as we find ourselves, there is no 
man with an ambition to attain anything who does not as 
soon as he attains it finds himself possessed of an ambi- 
tion to attain something else above and beyond it, and the 
which if he does not attain leaves him as much unsatisfied 
as if his first ambition had not been realized. Such is the 
nature of human effort and ambition; perhaps it is well 
that it is so. 

This fact of human history teaches us all a lesson, no 
matter what may be our station in life, our lot, or our for- 
tune; if we do our duty honestly and faithfully we need 
envy no man, no matter what his wealth or what his posi- 
tion. There is no top rung to the ladder. Position, 
wealth, and parts are not in themselves happiness, but, 
on the contrary, they are oftentimes sources of unhappi- 
ness. The wise man tempers his ambition with content- 
ment 

IsiDOR Rayner served his country well and faithfully; 
let us pray God that we may do likewise. The great ma- 
jority of us can not hope to be as famed as Senator Ray- 
ner, but we all can hope and endeavor to leave behind us 
that which our late lamented friend left behind him, a 
reputation for honesty and fidelity. 



[58] 



Proceedings in the House 



Mr. Lewis. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
the Members of the Maryland delegation and of the House 
have one week in which to print remarks on the subject 
of the life, character, and public services of the late Sena- 
tor Rayner. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Mary- 
land asks unanimous consent that the Members of the 
House from Maryland and other Members of the House 
have unanimous consent to print remarks in the Record 
at any time within one week. If there be no objection, 
it will be so ordered. 

There was no objection. 

ADJOURNMENT 

And then, in accordance with the resolution previously 
adopted and as a further mark of respect to the memory 
of the late Senator Rayner, the House (at 12 o'clock and 
44 minutes p. m.) adjourned until to-morrow, Monday, 
February 3, 1913, at 12 o'clock noon. 

Monday, February 24, 1913. 
A message from the Senate, by Mr. Crockett, one of its 
clerks, announced that the Senate had passed the follow- 
ing resolutions : 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sorrow of the 
death of the Hon. Isidor Rayner, late a Senator from the State of 
Maryland. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased the business of the Senate be now suspended, to enable 
his associates to pay proper tribute to his high character and 
distinguished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy 
thereof to the family of the deceased. 



[59] 



Funeral Services 

[From The Sun, Baltimore, Nov. 28, 1912] 

RAYNER BURIED NATIVE STATE AND NATION JOIN IN FINAL TRIBUTE 

TO MARYLAND SENATOR SIMPLE SERVICE AT HOME HIGH OFFI- 
CIALS OF NATION AND FOREIGN DIPLOMATS ATTEND MAUSOLEUM 

HOLDS BODY SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN ACT AS PALLBEARERS 

AN IMMENSE FLORAL PALL COVERED THE CASKET THE FUNERAL 

CORTEGE ONE OF THE LONGEST WASHINGTON HAS SEEN IN MANY 
YEARS 

Washington, November 27. 

His native State and the Nation which he served joined to-day 
in paying a final tribute to the memory of Isidor Rayner, late 
senior Senator from Maryland. 

Attending the funeral services were men high in official life, 
political associates of the Senator, Cabinet officers, jurists, diplo- 
mats, and personal friends of the household. 

And when the eulogy upon the life and public services of the 
Senator had been delivered at the house more than 200 grief- 
stricken friends followed the remains to Rock Creek Cemetery, 
where they were laid away. The funeral cortege was the longest 
Washington has seen in many years. 

The leading men of Maryland came to unite with the leading 
men of the Nation in mourning a mutual loss and to offer tender 
comfort to a devoted family. 

The remains of Senator Rayner to-night rest in a mausoleum 
overlooking the beautiful valley of Rock Creek. They will remain 
there until the family determines definitely whether or not they 
will be buried in Washington or in Baltimore. 

funeral service simple 

Shortly after 2 o'clock the simple funeral services began. They 
were held on the library floor of the Rayner residence, 1320 
Eighteenth Street. In less than an hour they had been concluded 
and the cortege was moving slowly to the cemetery. 

A few minutes before the service was opened President Taft, 
Charles D. Hilles, his secretary, and Maj. Rhoads, his military 
aid, arrived. They had been preceded only a few minutes by 
Attorney General Wickersham and Secretary of Commerce and 
Labor Charles Nagel. 

[61] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 

Mr. Justice McKenna, of the United States Supreme Court, a 
friend of the Senator for many years, reached the house just as 
the President was being seated. Judge Hagner, of the District 
Supreme Court, arrived with him. 

Four distinguished members of the foreign diplomatic corps 
were there. They were James Bryce, ambassador from Great 
Britain; Count J. H. von Bernstorff, ambassador from Germany; 
Viscount Chinda, ambassador from Japan; and J. J. Jusserand, 
ambassador from France. 

COLLEAGUES PALLBEARERS 

Flanking the casket on either side were members of the Senate 
and House of Representatives. They were the official representa- 
tives of Congress and served as pallbearers at the house and at the 
vault. 

The congressional committee assembled in the minority room 
of the Senate at 1 o'clock and proceeded in a body to the Rayner 
residence. In the party were Senators Bacon, of Georgia, presi- 
dent pro tempore of the Senate; John Walter Smith, of Maryland; 
Sutherland, of Utah; Swanson, of Virginia; Smith, of Georgia; 
McCumber, of North Dakota; Cui'tis, of Kansas; Burton, of Ohio; 
Clark, of Wyoming; Overman, of North Carolina, and Gore, of 
Oklahoma. 

Representing the House were Congressmen Talbott, Lewis, 
Linthicum, and Konig, of Maryland; Burgess, of Texas; Byrns, 
of Tennessee; Doughton, of North Carolina; Foster, of Illinois; 
Burke, of South Dakota; Campbell, of Kansas, and Dalzell, of 
Pennsylvania. 

Around the right arm of each Senator and each Congressman 
was bound a band of crepe. They wore silk hats, frock coats, 
and black gloves. 

In the funeral apartments President Taft and his party were 
placed at the foot of the casket to the right. The Cabinet officers 
and jurists were next. To the left the Senators, Congressmen, 
and House and Senate officials ranged. 

MARYLANDERS AT HOME 

In the hall between the library and the drawing room many of 
the distinguished Marylanders were seated. Attorney General 
Edgar Allan Poe and former Attorney General Isaac Lobe Straus 
sat next to Gov. Phillips Lee Goldsborough. A little in the rear 
of them former Gov. Edwin Warfield, Gen. Murray Vandiver, and 
other members of the Maryland party were stationed. 

[62] 



Funeral Services 



Just to the right of Attorney General Poe sat Mrs, Schley, widow 
of Admiral Schley. She was in deep mourning. A heavy veil 
fell over her face. She had come from Colorado to bow at the 
bier of the man who had defended the name and fame of her 
husband and who had wrung from Congress an adequate pension 
for herself. 

In the drawing room there were many people, all of them 
intimate friends of the deceased. Just back of Mrs. Schley, with 
his head bowed in sorrow, sat Col. William S. Stewart, whose 
exile by President Roosevelt had been denounced on the floor of 
the Senate by the Marylander with a force that shook the Roose- 
velt administration. 

Near Col. Stewart were former Secretary of State John W. 
Foster; Gen. John C Black, president of the Civil Service Com- 
mission; Rear Admiral Harris, of the Navy; former Senator 
Eugene Hale, of Maine; and a multitude of other friends and 
former associates. 

CASKET BURIED IN FLOWERS 

The casket was almost buried in flowers. An immense floral 
pall was spread over it. This was presented by the Rayner 
family. It was made of white roses, planted in a bed of green. 
At the head of the casket was a beautiful wreath of white 
chrysanthemums sent by the President and Mrs. Taft. 

To the right of the bier stood the huge floral oftering of the 
United States Senate. This was made of roses, orchids, and 
lilies of the valley. The wreath stood upon a base of palms and 
ferns and was 5 feet in height. To the left was a gorgeous 
design sent by the Japanese ambassador. 

The four sides of the library were banked with other offerings. 
The hallway between the two large rooms was another bower of 
blossoms. Among those who sent offerings were the German, 
English, and French Embassies; the House of Representatives; 
Mr, and Mrs. John W. Garrett, of Argentina; Senator John Walter 
Smith; State Senator Blair Lee; Isaac Lobe Straus; the minister 
from Argentina; Mr. Justice Lamar, of the Supreme Court; Sen- 
ators Crane and McCuraber; Mrs. Schley; Representative Linthi- 
cum, of Maryland; and the employees of the Senate. 

The members of the Rayner family did not leave their private 
apartments on the third floor of the house during the funeral. 
They heard the services from their rooms above, but accompanied 
the remains to the cemetery. 

[63] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 



EULOGY BY CHAPLAIN 

Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, Chaplain of the Senate and pastor of 
President Taft's church in this city, pronounced the eulogy. Rev. 
Charles Wood, pastor of the Church of the Covenant, which the 
Senator regularly attended in this city, conducted the services. 

These clergymen occupied positions in the hallway and their 
voices were easily heard in every room in the house. Mr. Wood 
led in the Lord's Prayer and then read the Presbyterian funeral 
service. Dr. Pierce delivered his funeral oration and Mr. Wood 
closed the service with another prayer. There was no music at 
the house or at the cemetery. 

As soon as the services at the house were concluded the Presi- 
dent departed. The whole assemblage rose as he left the room. 
The official committees then formed in two lines from the house 
to the hearse. Between these lines the body bearers carried the 
casket, still shrouded in the floral pall. 

Outside the house a great crowd of people had gathered. They 
packed the sidewalks on both sides of the street, and a squad of 
policemen had difficulty in keeping the way open. As the bier 
was carried out, preceded by the two clergymen in their robes, 
the Senators and Congressmen uncovered and remained with 
bared and bowed heads until the casket was placed in the hearse. 

CORTEGE FORMS 

The funeral cortege was formed on Eighteenth Street, and it 
was composed of nearly 100 carriages. After the flower-covered 
casket had been placed in the hearse it was driven three blocks 
up the street so that the long line of carriages could fall in 
behind it. 

Members of the congressional committees entered the carriages 
and were driven to the head of the funeral cortege. The family 
were then placed in the carriages. It took a half hour for the 
large number of relatives and Baltimore and Washington friends 
of the dead Senator to file from the residence and enter the 
vehicles. First came Mrs. Rayner, the widow, on the arm of her 
son, Mr. William B. Rayner. Following were Mrs. William B. 
Rayner and son, Archibald Rayner. These four entered the first 
carriage, which immediately followed the hearse. Albert W. 
Rayner and family and other members of the Rayner family were 
placed in the next carriages. 

Accompanying the family was George A. Foos, who has been 
Senator Rayner's secretary for 29 years. 

[64] 



Funeral Services 



After the family the Baltimore and Washington friends of the 
dead statesman left the house and entered vehicles. 

FRIENDS ON OUTSIDE 

Among those who stood outside the residence to pay a last 
tribute to the Marylander was Maj. Robert W. Hunter, of Win- 
chester, Va. He started into the house, but it was so crowded he 
turned back and remained outside the residence, despite the 
biting temperature. John J. Mahon and Frank Kelly, of Balti- 
more, also remained outside the residence on account of the large 
crowd. 

SERVICES AT CEMETERY 

The services at the cemetery were simple, brief, and beautiful, 
in accordance with the Presbyterian faith. They were conducted 
by Rev. Dr. Pierce, assisted by Rev. Charles Wood. 

Before the funeral party reached the cemetery an automobile 
drove up with the floral tributes. These were banked outside 
the vault. A large piece of crepe was draped over the vault door, 
and over this was hung a beautiful wreath of roses. On one side 
of the vault door was placed the large standing wreath sent from 
the United States Senate, and on the other side was a similar 
floral tribute from the Japanese Embassy. 

For the final services the casket was placed on the catafalque 
in front of the vault door. Members of the Senate and House 
who acted as honorary pallbearers gathered to the right. On the 
left the family stood. Mrs. Rayner and Mrs. William B. Rayner 
sat in chairs during part of the time. 

At the conclusion of the services the casket was placed in a 
cedar box, which was covered with flowers. Before it was sealed 
in the vault several members of the family stepped to the vault 
door and took a final look upon the flower-banked box containing 
all that was mortal of Senator Rayner. 



MARYLAND WELL REPRESENTED SPECIAL TRAIN REARS MANY WELL- 
KNOWN MEN TO WASHINGTON 

With the governor, the entire congressional delegation, the 
mayor, and many other well-known citizens there, Maryland was 
well represented at the funeral of Senator Rayner. Friends and 
admirers of the late Senator, both inside and outside of his party, 
turned out to pay their final tribute of respect. 

10279°— 14 5 [65] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Rayner 



The Maryland party left Camden Station at noon in a special 
car over the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, arriving in Washington 
shortly before 1 o'clock. It then proceeded to the Rayner resi- 
dence, where many of its members personally extended their sym- 
pathies to members of the family. Some of the Marylanders were 
in the house while the services were being held, while others 
joined the throng in front of the house and waited until the pro- 
cession left for the cemetery, after which they returned to 
Baltimore. 

Among the Marylanders were many well-known organization 
Democrats of Baltimore City, all of whom were fond of Senator 
Rayner and regarded him as their political friend. For years 
these men steadfastly supported Mr. Rayner in his campaigns. 
United States Senator John Walter Smith, who was one of the 
pallbearers, accompanied the Maryland party to Washington. 
Former Gov. Edwin Warfield, Gov. Goldsborough, Adjt. Gen. 
Macklin, and Chairman John B. Hanna, of the Republican State 
central committee, were on the same train. 

The special car was arranged for "by the Democratic State 
central committee of Baltimore, and its chairman, Daniel J. 
Loden, and James W. Lewis had charge of the arrangements. 
The party included Messrs. — 

Wm. Shepard Bryan, Gilbert A. Daily, 

William J. Martin, 

Martin P. Healy, 

Robert E. Lee, 

Albert Diggs, 

Edward H. Hargrave, 

B. H. Worthington, 

Edward Davis, 

Harry Goldman, 

Harry A. Osborn, 

Frank Markiewicz, 

Charles R. Whiteford, John C. Dietz, 

Max Ways, James J. Jung, 

William J. Garland, 
Henry Rapp, 



Mayor Preston, 
Murray Vandiver, 
Edgar Allan Poe, 
John J. Mahon, 
John S. Kelly, 
Robert J. Padgett, 
Daniel J. Loden, 
George N. Lewis, 
James W. Lewis, 
Joseph M. Zamoiski, 
Eugene O'Dunne, 



Lloyd L. Jackson, 
Howard W. Jackson, 
John F. O'Meara, 
Dr. George Heller, 
S. S. Field, 
George B. Loden, 
Stephen C. Little, 
Andrew J. Burns, 
John T. Daily, 
Michael J. Rawley, 
B. F. Gallery, 



Charles H. Taylor, 

Raymond S. Williams, John J. Flynn, 

John E. Benson, Jacob W. Hook, 



Robert H.Worable, William P. Ryan, J. F. Gettemuller, 

At the railroad station in Washington the Marylanders were 
joined by Harry Welles Rusk, and at the Rayner residence they 
met State Senator Blair Lee, former Judge Martin Lehraayer, 
former Attorney General Isaac Lobe Straus, Thomas F. McNulty, 
Michael Sheehan, J. Arthur Wickham, and William Lamar. 



J. 
[66] 



LBJl'U 



I 



